Cuba rejects U.S. defamation on person trafficking

• Statement by Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, director of the North America Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba

CUBA categorically rejects as false and disrespectful the allegations of the Department of State report on the trafficking of persons and the implausible inclusion of Cuba in the worst of its categories.

This shameful defamation profoundly offends the Cuban people. There is no sexual trafficking of minors in Cuba, but an exemplary performance in terms of the protection of children, young people and women. Cuba does not qualify either as a country of origin, or of transit or of destination in relation to this scourge. Legislation and measures adopted in this sphere place us among the countries of the region with the most advanced regulations and mechanisms for the prevention and combating of person trafficking.

This can only be explained by the desperate need on the part of the government of the United States to justify, with any pretext whatsoever, the persistence of its cruel blockade policy, overwhelmingly rejected by the international community.